What does pet insurance cover?

Knowing what your insurance doesn’t pay out for is just as important as understanding what it does. So, what does pet insurance cover, and what might not be included in your policy?

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The first thing you need to know when choosing insurance is that all policies are different. Some policies cover almost all the care your pet could need and others just the basics. With some policies you will not pay more for claiming and other policies your premium will increase significantly if you claim. This is why you might get quotes at varying prices, and why it is important to look into the details of your policy before committing to purchasing it.

At Petplan, we design our insurance policies to pay out. We know that your biggest priority is keeping your pet happy, safe and well, so we aim to provide cover for as many different eventualities as we can. We’ll also tell you up front what is and what isn’t covered in your policy and with Petplan you won’t pay more for claiming.

What does Petplan cover?

Our Covered For Life® plan provides ongoing help with vet bills. You can choose either £4k, £7k or £12k for vet bills every year. The cover for vet bills refreshes each time you renew allowing you to continue to claim year after year for the same condition providing there is no break in cover. Our Essential plan provides short term help with vet bills. You can claim for 12 months treatment up to £3,000 for each illness/injury. Once you reach either of these limits the condition will no longer be covered.

Vet bills

It can be a stressful time if your pet is ill or injured and the last thing you will want to worry about is the cost of veterinary treatment. Thanks to advances in technology and veterinary medicine vets can do more for animals than ever before and having Petplan insurance can help your pet get the best care.

Pet therapies

Sometimes your vet may recommend an alternative treatment such as herbal medicine or homeopathy. Our policies cover these, as well as acupuncture and hydrotherapy, when recommended by your vet to treat illness or injury.

Dental

Petplan policies provide cover for dental illness and dental injury as standard as we know that teeth and gums are crucial to pet health. Not all pet insurance is the same and some policies do not provide any cover for dental at all whilst others only cover dental injury.

Legal Liability (dogs only)

The cost of finding a lost pet

If your pet strays or is stolen within the UK or the EU, we’ll pay for the cost of advertising and a reward to get your pet back. If your pet is lost or stolen outside the UK but inside the EU, we’ll also pay for the cost of your accommodation to stay and look for them.

Purchase price

In the event that your pet gets lost or stolen and they are not returned to you, we’ll pay you the amount on your receipt or rehoming document – or the market price if you didn’t pay for your pet, up to a maximum of £3,000.

Depending on whether you choose this cover option and the age of your pet, you may also be able to claim the purchase price of your pet if they pass away due to an illness or injury.

Hospital visits

We also cover care for your pet if you as the owner, or a member of your immediate family who lives with you, need to stay in hospital for two or more nights. We will pay for the boarding fees for your pet or £30 per day for someone to care for them, while you aren't able to look after them, up to a maximum of £2,000.

What does pet insurance not cover?

There are some things that we just cannot include in our insurance. These are known as exclusions, and all pet insurance policies have them.

Some of these apply to every plan taken out with us, but because we tailor our insurance to each individual pet, some elements of your cover will also be based on factors such as their medical history, age and general health.

It is important that you understand any exclusions fully when you take out your policy. To help you with this we will ask you some questions about your pet’s health when you take out your policy. Based on your answers, we will then confirm what will and what won’t be covered from the start, and state any exclusions clearly on your Certificate of Insurance.

Pre-existing conditions

With every new application, we ask you about any pre-existing conditions your pet has and then decide if we can provide cover for these. Our intention is always to make clear at the start what we will and won’t cover.

Excess

Like most other types of insurance, pet insurance has an excess. This is the amount you will need to contribute to the cost of your claim. It varies depending on the plan you choose, how old your pet is and what you are claiming for.

Preventative treatments

Vaccinations

Vaccinations cannot usually be claimed for on pet insurance. However, it is important that you keep your pet’s vaccinations up to date in order to keep them healthy throughout their life. If you don’t keep your pet’s vaccine’s up to date and they get a condition that could have been prevented by the injection, then any treatment for that condition may not be covered.

Banned breeds

Breeds of dog that are banned under UK law will almost always be uninsurable.

Petplan’s policy is that we do not cover dogs that need to be registered under the Dangerous Dogs Act, or pets used for security, guarding, track racing or coursing.

Pregnancy and giving birth

Additional limits

Additional limits are clauses in the small print of an insurance policy that mean your policy might not cover the care your pet needs and you could find yourself needing to pay more towards your vet bill than you expected. Some common ones to look out for are:

Cover not being provided for the full cost of diagnostic tools such as MRI scans
Cover only being provided up to a certain limit for conditions, such as cruciate ligament disease
Cover only being provided up to a certain limit within the overall vet fee benefit level – for example even if your overall limit was £4,000, you would only be able to spend £1,000 of that on your dog’s hip surgery.

Insurance tailored to your pet

With over 45 years of experience looking after the health of pets like yours, we have learned that no two animals are the same. This is why we consider each pet's conditions individually instead of applying a blanket approach to all. If we do need to apply an exclusion to your policy, we will notify you whether this is something that we may be able to provide cover for in the future or not. Some exclusions are able to be reviewed after your pet is clear of any issues for a set period of time.

It is important to insure your pet as early as possible before any veterinary conditions occur. We pay 97% of all the claims we receive and with Petplan you won’t pay more for claiming.

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Frequently asked questions

How do vaccinations affect pet insurance?

If your pet contracts an illness which they should have been vaccinated against, but has not been, an insurance policy will not usually cover them. It is important to keep your pet’s vaccinations up to date throughout his or her life. Dogs must be vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus. This usually means a first course of vaccinations at 8 to 10 weeks of age, followed by a booster every year.

Cats must be vaccinated against feline infectious enteritis, feline leukemia and cat flu. Again, this normally starts with a course of two injections at 9 and 12 weeks of age, followed by an annual booster.

How can I compare veterinary cover provided for pre-existing conditions?

When shopping around, it’s important to look beyond the headlines and check how much cover will be provided for any pre-existing conditions your pet has. As with all pet insurance, the breadth of the veterinary fee cover provided can have an impact on the veterinary care you can afford for your pet and it’s no different when treating pre-existing conditions either. Two key questions to ask when comparing pet insurance cover for pre-existing conditions are:

How much cover will be provided for my pet’s condition in the first year?
When will cover start for this condition?

Do you cover euthanasia?

In the sad event that your pet needs to be put to sleep you can claim for the cost of euthanasia within the Vet Bills benefit.

Will my pet insurance cover antibiotics?

If your pet picks up an infection for example, from a wound or because of a common condition such as a urinary tract or respiratory infection, a vet may prescribe antibiotics. The good news is that your Petplan policy will cover the cost of antibiotics, as long as they have been prescribed by a vet to treat an accident or illness.

How much of a pet insurance claim do I have to pay?

When you claim for veterinary fees you will need to pay a contribution towards the cost of the claim known as the excess. When and how much you pay depends on the policy you chose and type the age of your pet.

On Petplan’s Essential policy, you will pay an excess per condition for the 12 month period in which you are entitled to claim. If you have a Covered For Life® policy, you will pay an excess per condition, per year.

To help keep premiums affordable, as your pet gets older, you will need to contribute more towards the cost of your claim. You’ll pay 20% of all pet treatments on top of your fixed excess. We’ll remind you of this a year before it happens.

See all FAQs

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Petplan is a trading name of Pet Plan Limited (Registered in England No. 1282939) and Allianz Insurance plc (Registered in England No. 84638), Registered office: 57 Ladymead, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1DB.

Pet Plan Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Services Register No. 311969. Allianz Insurance plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Financial Services Register No. 121849. Pet Plan Limited is a subsidiary of Allianz Insurance plc. Fitz All Media Limited is an Appointed Representative of Pet Plan Limited.